Oxygen shows breathe easy

Femme net skeins breathe easy

Women’s network Oxygen has given second-season greenlights to its top-rated original shows “Campus Ladies” and “Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance.”

Renewal for “Campus Ladies” comes after just five episodes have aired. While ratings are slightly above par for Oxygen — one-hour premiere averaged 343,000 viewers — network chair-CEO Geraldine Laybourne told Daily Variety that the positive reviews for the half-hour prompted her to lock up a second season.

“The show has unknown stars, but the critics have liked it. I think it will take the show a bit longer to get to hit status,” Laybourne said. “It’s really like Ethel and Lucy gone wild.”

Laybourne noted that the recent boost in carriage — Oxygen picked up 12 million subs from EchoStar in the last month — gave execs an unexpected wave of additional revenue, which expedited the renewal process.

Cabler said 10 new episodes will bow this fall.

As for “Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance,” Oxygen will bring the plus-size beauty competish back this summer. Debut two-hour spec delivered 586,000 total viewers in August — the biggest aud for an original telecast in the cabler’s history.